Search All North Dakota Polling Places

To locate your polling place enter your house number and your 5 digit zip code, then press the Search button. This will take you to the Secretary of State's website, where you will have to click "Search" again.

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Now, for some more details...

EARLY AND ABSENTEE VOTING 

Absentee voting has started in Bismarck, North Dakota, and people are wondering "If I want to vote early, where do I get my ballot?" Well, until election day, there are a few different ways you can vote:

(1) You can go to the City-County Building (the old Q&R Clinic building) at 221 N. 5th Street, Bismarck. Go through the doors, turn right, take a quick left and you'll be in the right place. The counter where you fill out your application form and pick up your ballot will be on your right. Voting booths to your left (usually).  Vote today.

(2) Starting on October 22nd, Burleigh County (and some other counties) will have what's called an "early voting precinct."  Here's what that is, according to the Secretary of State's website...

Some counties, during the 15 days prior to an election, open an early voting precinct so that voters of the county can stop by and vote whenever they happen to be near the voting location. During the hours of operation, election workers are present in the same manner as they would at to polls on Election Day. The big difference from voting early or absentee voting is in the fact that the voter will actually deposit their ballot into the tabulator, which will read the votes on the ballot. If the machine discovers an error that would prevent the vote for an office to be counted, the voter is notified and given a second chance to vote their ballot so that all votes can be counted. Second chance voting was one of the major tenants of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was signed by President Bush in 2002.

NDSOS

That seems convenient. The difference between voting in the "early voting precinct" on or after Oct 22nd and voting by absentee ballot right now is that at the early voting precinct, your ballot will actually be run through the vote counting machine.  If it has any errors on it (over-votes, etc.), you'll probably be given a chance to fix those.  If you vote before the early voting precinct opens, you won't get a chance to fix any mistakes.  

or

(3) You can get an absentee ballot application form, fill it out, mail it to the address on the form, wait a few days and then vote in your kitchen, at home.  You can get an absentee ballot application by clicking right here.  Though this ballot application form has "Burleigh" inserted as the county of default (and as the mailing address on the bottom), you can plug in your own county if you aren't in Burleigh.  Mail it to your county election official and they should send you a ballot.  For a complete list of county election officials in North Dakota (as of Apr. 30, 2008), click here.  The list has phone numbers and e-mail addresses for all of them, so you should be able to contact them and ask where you need to go to vote.  (All of them should be working late on election day, so you should be able to call and reach them on election day, even if it's after 5:00 p.m., local time.)

VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

Keep in mind that there is no voter registration in North Dakota.  You'll likely need to show some form of identification to the election workers.  All you have to do is bring proper identification when you go to vote or to get your ballot.  Here's a list of the forms of identification that will work:

■ Valid Drivers License
■ Valid State Identification Card
■ Valid Federally Issued Identification Card:  (1) Passport (2) Agency Identification Card
■ Valid Tribal Government Issued Identification Card
■ Valid Student Identification Card
■ Valid United States Military Identification Card
■ Utility bill dated 30 days prior to election day with name and residential address
■ Change of address verification letter from the US Postal Service

If you do not have one of the forms of identification listed above, you still have the right to vote if

■ An election poll worker is able to vouch for your identity and residence.
■ You complete a Voter’s Affidavit on which you certify, under oath, your identity and that you are a resident within this precinct.

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VOTING IN THE BISMARCK AREA

If you just want to vote the old fashed way on election day, here's a list of our local precinct voting locations in Bismarck:

If you don't know your district and precinct, you'll need a map that'll show you where you vote.  You can get to the Bismarck map by clicking here.   The rest of Burleigh County is on this map (click here).  I'm not sure whether the list above contains all of the voting places in these districts.  If you live in the parts of District 14 or 8 that are not in Burleigh County, you'll need to get your voting info elsewhere.  (Maybe I'll do another post about that.)

VOTING IN THE MANDAN AREA

Morton County (Mandan) voting places are on this map (click here) [Link fixed] There's a map key that'll tell you where each of the colored areas voting place is.  You have to zoom in on the key to read it.  If you have any questions about where to vote, call the Democratic-NPL headquarters and tell them you don't know where to vote.  Give them your address and they'll likely call you back and tell you where you vote.  The number there is 701-255-0460.

I think the NDGrassroots4Obama office is looking for volunteer drivers to help get people to the polls on election day or to early voting locations.  Stop in at their office to volunteer.  (3333 E Broadway, Suite 1206, Bismarck).  I'll update this page as I learn more about that effort. 

WHO ARE THE DEMOCRATIC-NPLers ON THE BALLOT, AND HOW TO VOTE ON THE BALLOT MEASURES?

Once you've got your ballot sitting in front of you here in Bismarck, here's a list of progressive candidates and ways you might consider voting if you're tired of the way our government has been mucked up:

President/Vice President:  Barack Obama and Joe Biden (Better than 4 more years of Bush policies.)

Congress:  Earl Pomeroy (Better than any period of time with Duane Sand)

Governor/Lt. Governor:  Tim Mathern/Merle Boucher (They won't hide behind the big, fancy desk in the Governor's office.)

State Auditor:  Daryl Splichal (He's actually an auditor.)

PSC:  Cheryl Bergian (As best I can tell, she's running unopposed.  [If she has an opponent, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him.])

Insurance Commissioner:  Jasper Schneider (He's had more than one original thought during his lifetime.  And he's passionate about working for the people of North Dakota in the Insurance Commissioner's office.)

State Treasurer: Mitch Vance (He'll give you transparency, and won't misuse the office of the Treasurer.  His opponent will continue to use the Treasurer's office checkbook to pay her club membership dues.)

Superintendent of Public Instruction:  Wayne Sanstead (Experience counts.)

Measure #1: Oil Trust Fund.  Vote "NO".  (The dollar could tank in the next few months or year thanks to John McSame's deregulation and thanks to all the Republicans who are making the bail-out vote a big, political mess.  We won't know what impact that is going to have on our economy for a while now.  Regardless of what anybody tells you, this will have an impact on North Dakota's economy.  Now is not the time to unintelligently sock money away in a "lock box" and make it inaccessible if the dollar takes a dive.  Now is the time to address the gross negligence of John Hoeven and our GOP-controlled legislature and their failure to fix the milking machine.)

Measure #2:  Tax Breaks for the Wealthy and Corporations at a Time When Our Economy Could Tank.  Vote "NO".  (See comments on Measure #1, above.  And the fact that it eliminates a state tax liability entirely for a few, select income categories is really offensive.  Why should they not have to pay while the rest of us do?)

Measure #3:  Spending Tobacco Settlement Money On What It Was Meant To Be Spent On.  Vote "YES".  (The State of North Dakota recovered money in the tobacco settlement.  That money was supposed to be spent on certain things, but Republicans have redirected it to their pet projects.  This measure would direct that money back to where it was meant to go.)

Measure #4:  Cleaning Up The Mess At WSI.  Vote "YES.  (Our state's GOP leaders have allowed management of North Dakota's Workforce Safety and Insurance to be taken over by a bunch of corrupt, self-interested, greedy, uncaring, dishonest and/or secretive bullies (some of whom have been forced out, thank you very little.).  This measure will do several things, including neutralizing some of the remaining thugs.  The measure is not the "end all, be all" but it will send a message to our leaders and hopefully get them thinking about other meaningful reforms.)

Legislative Races in and around Bismarck/Mandan:

District 8 (Bismarck):  Wes Weible (Senate), Audrey Boe Olsen and Ken Baker (House)

District 14 (Lincoln, Steele, Driscoll, Wing):  Jim Long (Senate),  Karen Volk and Bob Stringer (House)

District 30 (Bismarck):  Chris Ebertz (Senate), Carol Christianson and Casey Skovran (House)

District 32 (Bismarck):  Tom Asbridge (Senate), Cheryl Long Feather and Jim Unkenholz (House)

District 34 (Mandan):  Arnold Zins (Senate), Brent Veil and Rob Tausend (House)

Feel free to print this out, give copies to your friends, put a copy on your fridge and take a copy to the polling place with you.

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